Those Left Behind
by TheShadowedRaven
Summary: What if Sasuke had not been alone growing up? What if there had been someone to take care of him, to raise him with the love and care that he lost the night his clan died. How different would he have turned out if he had that type of person? AU. Mainly KakashixOc, some bits of ItachixOc.


**Hello, Sani here. I'm working on Consequences and Ends both, I promise lol. The next chapter of Consequences is almost half done. This story however is a plot that has been floating around my head for a while. I actually found the old handwritten copy from a few years ago, and the plot bunnies went rampant when I re read it xD.**

 **This plot is one I came up with a few years ago, and I was back and forth about it, but I decided I'd like to see what people think, so here goes.**

"Blah" - Talking

'Blah' - Thinking

 **Disclaimer:** As usual, I do not own Naruto or its characters, just my own plots and Oc's.

* * *

Two chunin guards look up from a discussion about what had happened in the village early that morning, as someone approaches the Western gate of Konoha. There was no one there a moment ago, and now a girl is approaching. She looks to be a teenager, maybe thirteen to fifteen years old. She has raven hair wound back in a thick braid, the end of which rests against her rear as she walks. As she gets closer, they see a Suna hitai-ate against her hip, sitting like a loose belt on a bit of an angle. Then, to their surprise, they notice she also has a Konoha hitai-ate, around her upper right arm. Her eyes, which they see are bright green as she gets closer, scan the area all around her as she walks over the leaf strewn path toward the gates. She stops in front of the desk they sit behind, just back from one of the doors, and she looks around a bit. She can feel a somber mood hanging in the air. One of the chunin, a brunette, looks at the girl warily, it isn't normal to see a shinobi bearing two hitai-ate.

"Identification?" the other chunin says, he has blonde hair and brown eyes. She turns to him, saying nothing at first as she studies him, then sighs.

"Sanishu Ukishira, age thirteen, status: Jonin." she says, and they both look at each other with a raised eyebrow. They know of only one Jonin that age.

"Yea right." the blond scoffs, rolling his eyes. She sighs again, pulling a card from her kunai pouch and showing it to them. Their eyes widen as they read the information on it.

"Ukishira? As in the old clan?" the brunette asks, and she nods. The blond grumbles, taking and stamping her traveling papers. As she takes them back, the blond asks.

"Why two hitai-ate?" and she pauses, considering the question a moment. She puts away her ID card and papers, green eyes saddening a bit.

"I was born here, but raised by a relative in Suna." They both nod, waving her on through. She sighs and gives herself a mental shake to throw off the memories, heading into the village. She starts heading toward the Hokage tower, needing to put in a report there, but on the way, she finds herself pausing at the entrance to the cemetery, and her eyes widen. There's a large number of caskets to one side, all draped with flags bearing the red and white fan of the Uchiha, even small ones, the caskets of children. She pales, wondering just what could have happened to leave so many Uchiha dead. Sighing a bit, she heads across the street and into the cemetery, deciding to pay her respects. As she makes her way over to where the caskets are, something collides with her. She startles and stops whoever it was by the shoulders. She's surprised to find it's a small raven haired boy, as she looks him over she sees that he's quite young, maybe six or seven, and he's been crying. His obsidian eyes are wide with fear and some shock as he looks at her, then he tears himself away and takes off, and she sees the fan on the back of his shirt.

' _Poor kid_..' she sighs sadly, turning to the caskets, where she bites her lip, She notices an incense dish sitting nearby, and she lights a fresh one, kneeling in a prayer stance for a moment, bowing her head. She then rises, and with another glance at the caskets all sitting in rows and sighs sadly, then she heads from the cemetery, continuing toward the tower. She makes her way through the village, and as she walks, she notices even the children are somber, none are playing out in the streets and parks like it would be expected of kids, they just walk quietly together or with their parents. She continues through the inner parts of the village, pausing when she reaches the tower. She glances upward at the huge tower, then gives a sigh, opening the door and heading inside. She makes her way up the stairs several floors, stopping at the door to the Hokage's offece. She takes a breath, then knocks on the door.

"Enter." the Hokage's gruff voice calls, so she pushes open the door and goes inside, closing it behind her. She makes her way across the office, bowing to the Hokage, then standing with her hands behind her back.

"Ah, Sani." Sarutobi says, setting his pointed hat on the desk. When he nods to a chair, she pulls it over and settles on it, but she's quiet, unable to get what she saw at the cemetery, or the boy, out of her mind.

"Kazekage-same informed me that you would be arriving today." she nods again, but still remains quiet, chewing on her lip a bit as well. The Hokage frowns.

"Something on your mind?" he asks, concerned, and she finally looks up at him.

"I saw.. at the cemetery.. so many caskets with the Uchiha flag.. there were so many.. what happened here?" Sighing as he puffs at his pipe, the Hokage sits back a bit.

"It is a very dark day, today. The entire Uchiha clan.. has been slain." her face pales and she sits forward a bit, sighing some. She chews her lip, asking,

"E-Entire clan..?" and the Hokage nods sadly. She frowns, her eyes filling with tears.

"Yes, save for one small boy.." her eyes widen, that must be the boy that ran into her in the cemetery. She wipes at her eyes and says,

"I went in to pay my respects, and on the way out a young boy collided with me, he was wearing a shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back." The Hokage nods.

"That would have been him. He keeps eluding us when we try to bring him out of the cemetery or the district." sighing, he puffs his pipe again. She nods a bit, the poor child must be devastated.

"Who would have.." she starts to ask, and the Hokage hesitates, he knows how close she was to him. He frowns some, and he says in a quiet, grave voice,

"It was Itachi.." her head shoots up, her face completely white. Itachi? Her best friend? He couldn't have done such a thing.. could he? The Hokage sits back again, starting to tell her what happened, that it had just happened this morning, fairly early. He explains that the boy, Sasuke, was found unconscious in the street near the bodies of his aunt and uncle, tear stained and his clothes torn and dirty, and a cut on his shoulder. He had been taken into the hospital, cleaned up and his shoulder treated, then after he woken up, he had snuck out of the hospital, and has been eluding everyone since. Which is concerning as it's going on 10 at night. He also tells her that Itachi has been missing since the massacre, having eluded everyone searching for him. They talk a while more, and then the Hokage tells her where she'll be staying. She nods and gets up, bowing again, but then pauses, asking,

"Is there anything I can do to help?" The Hokage sits up and sets down his pipe, pulling over a small scroll as well as an inkpot. He writes on the scroll for a moment, then he rolls it, seals it, and hands it to her.

"ANBU may need help searching, take this to Captain Hatake at the Uchiha district," Sani nods and takes it, thanking him. She bows again, then heads from the office. She stops at the apartment that she was told will be hers, picking up the key from the manager, and going inside. She drops off her bag and her traveling cloak, then heads out again, locking the door again as she leaves. She puts the scroll into her kunai pouch, then starts heading for the Uchiha compound. When she arrives at the gates, she feels a pit forming in her stomach when she sees the yellow tape crisscrossing it.

"Oh Itachi.." she says quietly, making her way into the compound and starting to look around. Sighing a bit, she makes her way through the streets, stepping over bodies that haven't been moved yet as the investigation is still ongoing. She pauses at the main house, but senses no one around, so she continues toward the back of the district. An ANBU operative stops her as she approaches the trees. She holds up the scroll,

"Gomen, I'm looking for Captain Hatake." she tells them. The shinobi pauses, then nods, motioning her to head across the path and into the trees. She nods her thanks and follows his directions. She soon comes up on what looks like a small, fast made base camp, and standing at a table is a black clad shinobi with silver hair framing his mask.

"Hatake-san?" she asks, and the figure straightens, looking over at her. He lifts his mask, and a slight smile comes to his lips when he sees her.

"Well if it isn't little Sani." he says. She rolls her eyes playfully at the nickname, and comes toward the table. She glances around a bit, then pulls out the scroll, handing it to him. He takes it and breaks the seal, unrolling it and starting to read. Sani's eyes move to the table, where a map of the compound is laid out. She notices pins in different spots, but she also notices none are in one specific area, and she remembers Itachi telling her about a hiding spot he had in the woods out back of the Uchiha's compound. Kakashi finishes reading the scroll and puts it away, nodding a bit.

"Alright, glad to have your help, Sani. We could use more eyes in the forest." She nods, and before she leaves, he gives her a password to use if she's stopped by any more ANBU. She heads off, heading right for the unmarked spot she saw on the map. She keeps her senses alert, sensing ANBU in different directions, but none come close to this area, and she soon realizes why. She stops and looks around, then back in the direction she wants to head.

"Very clever, Itachi.." she murmurs, putting her hands together in the required hand sign, and murmuring "Kai!" quietly to herself, and then she passes through the genjutsu barrier she had detected. She looks around a bit and then starts making her way to the spot she remembers being told about. She keeps her senses alert, soon arriving at the small clearing. Just as she thought, a figure sits at the base of a tree, hugging their knees to their chest. She also notices his chakra is completely, as well as perfectly masked. She slowly approaches him, seeing the white armor pieces and his mask on the grass beside him, as well as a katana. His raven hair has come loose from its ponytail, and hangs around his shoulders, some falling in front, and she also sees his shoulders are trembling.

"Itachi-kun?" she asks softly, kneeling on the grass in front of him. The teen startles, his featues going blank, and then to surprise when he sees her, and she finds herself lost in those obsidian eyes.

"Sani.. they didn't care about me.. why didn't they care..?" he says in a quite voice, She looks into in his eyes, and she can see the sadness hidden in the black depths, and the wetness rimming his eyes breaks her heart. Without thinking, she wraps her arms around him, hugging him close. She feels him nuzzle into her shoulder, his arms going around her waist and holding her tightly. She can feel the way he's trembling. She bites her lip when she feels the warmth of tears against her skin as the teen in her arms finally lets go of his emotions in front of the one he feels most comfortable with. She remembers how he told her he felt about his family, that they only loved his abilities, and she knows he just wanted to be loved for who he is, and not just his skills. She also suspects there's more to it, because she knows Itachi is a pacifist by nature, and for him to do something of this magnitude, there has to be something else. She runs her hand up and down his back, trying to reassure him, and he manages to calm some, his tenseness fading a bit as his trembling stops. He pulls back a bit, his dark eyes watching her.

"I want you, Sani. No one else can have you. Ever." she can't help chuckling slightly at that, she knows that Itachi has strong feelings for her, and her feelings for him are the same, so she actually doesn't mind the declaration.

"Then I'm yours, Itachi." she says softly, and he pulls her close again, covering her lips with his own. She responds with equal intensity to his kisses. Between kisses though, Itachi realizes what he has to do, that this can't go on right now. So when the next kiss breaks, he says softly,

"Promise me one thing.." and she tilts her head, looking at him in slight confusion. She then nods,

"What is it..?" she asks, and he says softly, hiding the pain he feels inside at what he knows he needs to do. He brushes his fingers through her hair, pushing the long bangs out of her eyes,

"Take care of my little brother for me." he says softly, fondness in his eyes. He kisses her softly, and as he does, he brings up his hand to her neck, focusing chakra into it, and hitting the pressure point. She sinks into his arms, and he lays her down onto the grass. He pulls something out of his pocket, infusing it with chakra, then clasping it around her neck. He then focuses chakra again into his hand, and presses it to the side of her head, casting a silent jutsu. He then kisses her forehead, and whispers,

"Forgive me.." and vanishes into the trees after grabbing his armor, and mask, leaving his katana beside her. He dispels the genjutsu as he runs, soon vanishing beyond the search border. Not a sound is heard, except the wind blowing, ruffling the hair of the girl laying in the grass.

* * *

"Alright, status?" Kakashi says a few hours later, looking around at the assembled ANBU. He then frowns, the girl the Hokage sent to help has not returned. One of the ANBU starts to speak, saying nothing has been found, and Kakashi holds up a hand.

"There was a girl searching with us, Lord Hokage sent her. She has not returned to check in, find her!" he gives them a quick description of her, and the shinobi all nod, then vanish to search. Kakashi sighs, wondering where she could have made it to. He summons Pakkun, sending him off to track as well after letting him sniff the scroll Sani brought. He glances down at the map, then heads off himself. Kakashi periodically contacts the others on the wireless microphones they wear, but as time passes and no one has found the girl he's starting to get worried. He grumbles to himself, making a turn and heading farther in to the woods to search. He's gone about a hundred or so paces when Pakkun suddenly appears. The little pug is panting a bit as he tries to catch his breath enough to talk.

"Found her. This way." he says as a few ANBU arrive, reporting they've been unsuccessful. Kakashi motions for them to follow, and Pakkun takes off, leading the group. After about ten minutes of running, the dog veers to the right into some dense bushes, and the group follows him.

"There!" Kakashi says, seeing Sani laying on the grass, though his eyes widen when he sees the sword that's laying with her on the grass. One of the shinobi, a medic, kneels down.

"She's been knocked out via pressure point, she must have found him and something happened." Kakashe kneels down beside her, looking at the girl. He picks up the sword and tucks it into his belt, then lifts the girl into his arms.

"Go and report in, I'll take her to the hospital." the rest of the ANBU, except the medic, who stays with Kakashi, nod and disperse. The silver haired man nods at the medic, then starts running back toward the village. He holds the girl against his chest securely, running through the compound and into the main village, making his way to the hospital, the medic following his path behind him. The medic, known as Badger, leads Kakashi into the hospital when they arrive, calling for a medic nin to come and check the girl over. Kakashi lays her on the bed as Kisu, a medic friend of his comes into the room. He steps back from the bed a bit, looking at Kisu worriedly.

"She was part of our search party, she didn't check in so we went searching, and foud her unconscious." Kisa fowns a bit, moving to the bed and beginning to check the girl. Her vitals seem fine, so she gathers some chakra into her hand and then presses it to the pressure point on her neck, undoing the touch that knocked the girl out. Sani stirs and groans, but Kisu gently presses her shoulders to keep her laying down. Her green eyes flick open, and she looks around, confused.

"Where..?" she asks, and Kakashi moves to her side. He takes her hand gently.

"The hospital. We found you unconscious, and because we don't know how long you were like that, we decided to get you checked out. Sani groans a bit, blinking some at the bright lights.

"It seems that you were likely unconscious for a few hours, I'd like to keep you overnight to be safe." Kisu says as she finishes checking the girl over, aside from disorientation and a headache, she seems okay. Sani winces, pulling her braid up out from underneath her, and settles back on the pillow, as she does, the light catches something around her neck.

"Sani.. what's that? You weren't wearing it before." Kakashi asks, and she frowns, reaching a hand to her throat, both curious and confused. She feels cool metal and lifts it to find a chain. She lifts it a little higher to inspect it, and a small, silver pendant bumps her hand. She turns it over, her eyes widening when she sees it's the shape of an Uchiha fan, an opal and a jade stone the color of blood make up the colors. She also feels something engraved on the back and turns it over. 'I.U.' is what she finds there. Frowning, she shows it to Kakashi.

"This isn't mine.." she says a little nervously. Kakashi frowns, reaching up to take it so he can examine it better, b ut as soon as he touches it, the chakra flares and he drops it with a pained hiss.

"It burned me!" he frowns. Sani chews her lip, feeling uneasy. Kakashi sighs a bit, eyeing the necklace warily. Kisu looks at it as well, frowning some.

"With the way it's chakra infused, only you can touch it." she says, and Sani sighs. She nervously picks it up again, and turns it so Kakashi and Kisu can see the engraving on the back. Kakasi's eyes widen when he sees the initials.

"It's like he's using it to claim you." she frowns, feeling more uneasy at the thought of that.

"Why would he want to do that?" She asks, feeling more and more confused and a little afraid. Why would he want this on her to claim her? She sighs, flopping back against the pillow. Kisu frowns,

"Judging by her obvious confusion, I'd say he scrambled her memories of tonight when he knocked her out." Sani sighs at that, letting her eyes close. Badger soon heads off, and Kakashi settles in a chair beside Sani's bed,

"Do you remember anything?" he asks, and she chews her lip, trying to think, though it's hard with the headache that's pounding in her head. She closes her eyes, thinking.

"I think I found him, there was.. a little talk, and he asked me to take care of his brother I think.. nothing else.." Sani's green eyes open again, and she looks over at the silver haired Jonin. He squeezes her hand, trying to reassure her. He soon goes home as well when Kisu shoos him off, saying that Sani needs to rest and sleep. Kisu gives Sani a chakra treatment to help with the headache, checks her vitals again, then heads from the room, shutting off the light so the girl can sleep. Sani, though, lays awake for a while, thinking about the necklace and her missing memories, wondering just what the hell happened. She soon falls asleep though, as the chakra treatment had also made her sleepy.

The next morning when Kisu comes to check on her patient, she finds the girl curled on her side, one arm draped over her stomach. Just then she sits up, groaning and vomiting into a basin. Kisu frowns.

"When did this start?" she asks, coming over and starting to check the girl. Sani lays back, looking up at her.

"Couple hours ago.." she says softly. Kisu frowns, checking her vitals and her head, and she sighs a bit when she finds the problem. She does another chakra treatment for her as well.

"It seems he used too strong of chakra when he knocked you unconscious and altered your memories. I'm afraid that I have to insist you stay here until this clears up." Sani sighs, but nods, relaxing into her pillow. Kisu also does a chakra check on her stomach as well.

"I'll bring you something for the nausea, and some tea, just sip it slowly." Sani nods, watching the medic nin head from the room. Kakashi drops by a little later, concerned when he finds out she still isn't well. He pulls the chair over to her bed and sits down, deciding to visit for a while. She raises the head of the bed a bit to make herself more comfortable, fixing the warm blankets some, and relaxing again.

"Kisu said that Itachi must have used a little too much chakra when he knocked me out and modified my memories, so it's affecting me more than she thought it would." Sani explains, and Kakashi nods, frowning a bit. Sani closes her eyes as a just then she's hit with another wave of intense nausea. Thankfully, Kisu returns and says softly,

"Okay, I have your nausea medicine, but I'm also going to put you on an IV for fluids just to be safe until we can make sure the nausea issues are gone." Sani sighs, but nods. She holds out her left hand, and Kisu preps everything, swabs her hand, and then inserts the needle. Once the IV is running, she injects the nausea medication into the port halfway down the line, and she says with a smile.

"That should kick in fairly quick." Sani nods, thanking her again. She nods and heads from the room after disposing of the needle's wrapper and stuff into the specified waste container. Kakashi watches the IV a moment, and Sani can't help a bit of a chuckle at his expression.

"Not a fan of needles?" she asks, and the silver haired jonin shudders. She just smiles a bit, relaxing, and within several minutes, the medicine starts kicking in and the nausea begins to abate, and she relaxes more comfortably. She and Kakashi talk for a while, until she ends up falling asleep, so he heads off to report to Hokage about what's going on with her.

* * *

Sani remains in the hospital for another day and a half, making her stay almost three days long. Kisu was finally able to get her cranial chakra stabilized, and the headaches and nausea have completely disappeared. She also told her not to go go on any active missions for a week though, just to be safe. Sani sighs slightly as she walks out of the hospital, glad to be free, finally headache free, which is a relief. Having to go for migraine treatments as often as she does is bad enough, but that was awful in itself. She glances around, it's cloudy out, and not too warm, but it's not cold either. She decides that instead of going home as she originally planned, that she wants to clear her head a while first, so she makes her way to the large pond that goes partway into the Uchiha district, knowing no one will be there. She makes her way through the empty compound, seeing that the bodies of the dead have been moved and some cleanup has started. She arrives at the pond, and goes to walk out toward the end of it where the dock is, and she pauses, there's a small figure huddled at the end of the dock. Sani frowns a bit, slowly approaching the huddled figure. As she gets closer, she notices the small shoulders trembling, as well as the crest on the back of his shirt as well. This must be the boy the Hokage mentioned.

"Hey.. Are you okay..?" she asks gently, and the boy startles and looks at her, and she sucks in a sharp breath, the child is like a miniature version of Itachi. She sighs slightly, she remembers only a few words and his face from three days ago.

"Iie.." he sniffles, more tears slipping down his pale, stained cheeks. He looks thin as well. She kneels down beside him, and gently touches his shoulders, then pulls him into her arms. As she does, it's like all fight just leaves the child, and he whines softly, sinking against her. She stands, gently lifting him into her arms, he's light, but she still circulates a small bit of her chakra into her arms to make carrying him easier. His small arms go around her neck as he buries his face into her shoulder. She stands up, settling him against her hip a bit, and rubbing his back a little as she starts walking back down the dock and out of the area of the pond, and out of the district. As she walks, she feels his body relaxing a bit, and his breathing evens out as he soon falls asleep, likely exhausted from grief. As she gets closer to the tower, she notices people smile sadly at the boy she carries, and as she adjusts him slightly on her hip, her arms tighten a tad around him. The poor child has been through a nightmare. She arrives at the tower, and a chunin at the door, who was actually on his way out, holds it open for her.

"Arigatou." she says softly with a bow of her head, and he nods, heading off. As she makes her way up the tower, Sani notices that when people see her, they soften their voices, so that they don't wake the sleeping boy. She smiles a bit when right then he snuggles into her a bit, and she makes note to get him a blanket when she can. When she reaches the office, as couple of chunin do as well, one of them knocks for her, seeing her arms are full. She gives him an appreciative nod, waiting to be told to enter. When the Hokage calls out, the same chunin opens the door for her, then closes it as well when she goes in. Sarutobi looks up from a scroll he was reading, and his eyes widen, then he smiles,

"Thank Kami, we were all getting worried. Where did you find him..?" she moves toward the desk and settles down into a chair, careful of the boy in her arms. She makes sure he's comfortable, then says,

"On the dock at the Uchiha pond." softly. The Hokage nods, sitting back in his chair a bit. She gently brushes Sasuke's dark hair out of his face, thinking.

"We haven't been able to find Sasuke since he slipped out of the hospital three days ago, as I had told you he did. He's had us all pretty worried." She nods a bit, pulling the blanket off the chair next to her, and tucking it around Sasuke. Saurtobi watches her a moment, noting how gentle she is with the boy. He rests his elbows on the desk, steepling his fingers as he thinks for a moment, debating how to proceed regarding Sasuke. He then remembers that he had wanted to discuss something else as well with Sani. He leans forward a bit.

"Kakashi explained what happened, may I see the necklace?" he asks, and she frowns, but nods. Adjusting Sasuke, she reaches up and pulls it from her shirt, showing the Hokage the pendant, and the engraving on the back. He reaches forward to take the necklace, and the chakra within it flares harshly. Her eyes widen, especially when Sasuke whimpers and flinches.

"He recognizes the chakra." the Hokage says quietly. Sani frowns a bit.

"How?" she asks, and the Hokage watches her and the boy a moment, then says softly.

"Itachi, is Sasuke's older brother." her eyes widen at that. She remembers him mentioning his brother, but she had not know the boy's name. Sasuke stirs and whimper5, one hand moving to plant a thumb in his mouth, and she looks at the Hokage a bit as he does, worried. She can tell the old man is worried as well. She frowns a bit, rubbing Sasuke's back gently, it seems that the post traumatic shock is setting in on the child. She tucks the blanket around him more when he shivers a bit, and then Sani looks back at the Hokage,

"Lord Hokage, may I take Sasuke into my care? He has no one now, and I would hate to see him without anyone to give him the care and love he needs." The Hokage sits back a bit, puffing on his pipe as he considers her request. The child services department at the hospital had not yet been able to arrange alternate care yet for the boy, and he can see that the child seems to feel comfortable with Sani, he wouldn't come near anyone else. After a few moments, he says softly,

"I grant your request, I think you being here is what he needs." She nods and thanks him, bowing politely. She soon lets a soft sigh pass her lips and gets up, adjusting the boy in her arms.

"Return the blanket later, it's supposed to rain so you may need it." The Hokage says softly, and she nods, saying again that she's grateful. He walks her to the door, opening it for her and watching as she heads down the hall, the young Uchiha heir still asleep in the girl's arms. Sani shifts Sasuke carefully as she walks, keeping the blanket wrapped around him. It's gotten fairly cool out now, and a slight drizzle has started. She frowns when she hears thunder in the distance, wanting to get back home to her apartment before the rain starts. Sani sighs a bit as right as she gets under the roof over her door, the skies open up and it begins raining heavily. Shifting Sasuke, she unlocks the door and goes inside, locking it again. She kicks off her sandals and goes into the living room, gently laying the child on the couch and fixing the blanket around him. She then heads to her room, where she changes into more comfortable clothes. She heads back to the living room, settling in a rocking chair near the couch, with a book, starting to read, after also closing the windows against the rain. She glances in the direction of the cemetery, hoping as well that the funeral caretakers were able to get the caskets covered with tarps to protect the flags. The funeral for the Clan is tomorrow. She's been reading a little while, when a loud thunderclap rattles the air, and the windows, and she looks up then as a scared shout catches her attention. She looks over at Sasuke, finding him sitting straight up0, onyx eyes wide.

"It's alright, it's just a storm." Sani says softly. He sniffles, slipping his thumb back into his mouth, and hear heart right there just breaks for him, seeing the sadness and fear in his eyes. She sets down her book, opening her arms for him, and with a soft whimper he gets up, padding quietly across the floor and crawling into her lap. She wraps her arms and her blanket around him, rubbing his back a bit. She starts gently rocking the chair as well, humming softly a bit.

"W-Who are you..?" he then asks, his voice soft, pulling the thumb from his mouth. She gently brushes his raven hair out of his eyes.

"My name is Sanishu, but everyone calls me Sani, you can too." He nods, thinking for a moment, then he says in a quiet voice, looking up at her.

"Nee-chan?" she chuckles softly at the cute way he spoke it, and nods. If he wants to call her that he can. He settles a bit, relaxing against her, the thumb soon returning to his mouth, and he eventually falls asleep again. She watches Sasuke as he sleeps rubbing his back gently. She's worried though, she could tell when she lifted him that he's a bit underweight, lighter than a child his age should be, and she can't help but wonder if his parents neglected him to some degree in favor of pressuring their elder son, Itachi. She thinks about how she thought he was maybe six when she first saw him, when she had found out that he is actually just over seven. She rocks the chair gently, finding her thoughts drifting to Suna, and a certain little red haired boy that she had taken under her wing there. She finds herself wondering how he is, missing him quite a bit. She relaxes back in the chair, looking down at Sasuke again. This will be a new start for them, and she hopes she can help him the way he needs. With a yawn, she lets her eyes close, knowing the first step is getting him through tomorrow's funeral. With that thought, she ends up drifting off herself, the young Uchiha still asleep in her lap.

* * *

 **Well, there's the first chapter. I'm a little nervous about it, but I hope you readers enjoy this story. Please review and let me know. :)**

 **\- Sani.**


End file.
